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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Welcome to Galen ...

Galen is located in Macon County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Galen, you might consider that their post office opened in 1900.

Galen is 920 feet [280 m] above sea level.<2>.

Time Zone: Galen lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Note: If you leave Galen and travel east, you will leave Central Time and cross into the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT).

Area Codes for Galen: 615 & 629<3>

Communities Also Named Galen ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 4 communities that are also named Galen - they are located in Kentucky, Mississippi and Montana (2).

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Galen.

Communities near Galen ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Galen.

  • Difficult
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Difficult is located in Smith County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Difficult
    • Estimated population in 2014: 14,993 people
  • Hartsville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
  • Lafayette
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
  • Scottsville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Westmoreland
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Tompkinsville
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Red Boiling Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Gamaliel
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
  • Fountain Run
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Bransford
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Bransford is located in Sumner County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bransford
    • Population from the 2010 Census: 170 people

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Galen. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Galen.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Galen. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Galen.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Galen. See our Newspapers Page for Galen.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Galen ...

Looking for more information about Galen? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Galen, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Galen.

Adding Galen to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Galen in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Galen was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Galen post office opened in 1900. The Galen post office closed in 1907.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Galen.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Tennessee's counties, including Macon, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Galen - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 615 code has been Overlayed with the 629 area code. New phone numbers in the Galen area will be assigned with one of these codes: 615 or 629. As a result, placing a call in the Galen area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/